all the inquisitiveness of a boy he found his way to the temple, and puzzled the learned doctors with his many questions, as many a twelve-year-old boy has done to this day. The only record we have of Jesus' boyhood is that significant statement-"He advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.' After that come the silent years, the years when many a boy gets lost in the "storm and stress, when his questions are ignored or else silenced and unanswered. Though he is but a boy, the instincts of a man are already making themselves known, and he seeks information from one who has been through the same experiences—a man, naturally his father, but alas! father is "too busy." How few fathers realize that it is a serious business to start a soul voyaging toward eternity and then to give up hold on the pilot wheel when nearing the most dangerous shoals in the voyage. A boy's questions are a father's opportunity. "To suppress them is to suppress him, to direct and answer them is to discipline and develop him; to do it in the spirit of cooperation is to enter into a sacred partnership with him." The wise saying of Plato, that it was "Better to be unborn than untaught; for ignorance is the root of misfortune," surely is applicable in modern life as in the days of old.

2 Kirtley, "That Boy of Yours," p. 26.

No earthly object is so attractive as a wellbuilt, growing boy. He is truly "fearfully and wonderfully made." The teen period, John Keats says, "is the space between the boy and the man, in which the soul is in ferment, the character undecided, the way of life uncertain.” Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Malvolio these words concerning this age: "Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before 'tis a peas-cod, or a codling when 'tis almost an apple." He is growing like the proverbial weed, he seems to be all legs, he has a painful sensation of awkwardness. "Up to the age of about fifteen the legs are growing more rapidly than the trunk. After fifteen the upper half of the body gains twentyfive per cent, the lower hardly half as much." "By fifteen the brain stops growing. The large arteries increase one third, the temperature rises one degree, the reproduction organs have functioned, the voice deepens, the stature grows by bounds and the boy needs more sleep and food than ever before."5 His heart nearly doubles in size; at ten the heart weighs 115 grams, at seventeen it weighs 230 grams. The blood is driven through his veins at double the

Beck, "Marching Manward," p. 46.

4 Tyler, "Growth and Education," p. 66. Forbush, "The Boy Problem," p. 18.

pressure. "Chest girth is at birth nearly two thirds of the height. At nine it is almost exactly one half. The ratio diminishes until the thirteenth or fourteenth year in the boy. After this it rises continually, and at twenty should exceed one half the height." Increased girth is always a sign of increased power. Increase of vigor and decrease of sickness is marked at fourteen and sixteen in the boy, and these years are marked by a rapid increase in girth. Do you wonder why this "new man" is a revolutionist? A new sense of power and self-life calls out for expression.

"I must, I must: a voice is crying to me

From my soul's depths, and I will follow it."

He seeks out boys who are undergoing similar experiences and feelings, a group or gang is formed for weal or woe, for destructive or constructive purposes, for worthwhile deeds or damnable doings. He must find some form of expression. He is now determining his destiny. Now is the critical time of his life, for "Buoyancy and hopefulness of youth accompany the rise in blood pressure. Courage, vitality and the temperature of the body sink together during the hours before dawn. The tides of religious feeling are at their flood at fourteen and sixteen Tyler, "Growth and Education,” p. 67.

years when the girth and lung capacity have their accelerated increase." To help harness this energy so that manhood may be conserved, is the duty as well as the privilege of workers among boys, for as Herbert says, "No sooner is a temple built to God, but the Devil builds a chapel hard by."

"The glory of young men is their strength. A wise leader will take advantage of the boy's natural desire for physical struggle and prowess. Instead of frowning upon his enthusiasm for things physical, he will direct it along lines of wholesome self-knowledge and help him to understand that the things he so much desires may, if not skilfully controlled and directed, prove his greatest peril and unmaking. Recreation does not always re-create. Any form of dissipation is a waste of vital material which will be needed in some emergency. Physical health is a mental and moral asset. When Wendell Phillips started off for college, his mother gave him this advice, "My son, keep your linen clean, read your Bible every day, and let plenty of fresh air into your room." "Conservation of bodily strength through cleanliness and fresh air, is the first thing needed." Therefore a

998

7 Tyler, "Growth and Education," p. 201.

8 Kirtley, "That Boy of Yours," p. 10.

boy should be taught the value of keeping his body clean, that it is important for his mental and moral, as well as physical good, to keep the nasal passages open, to keep his finger nails and toe nails trimmed and clean, and to look after his eyes and ears and especially his throat.

The boy should understand that he has about 1,700 square inches of skin, each square inch containing about 3,500 sweating tubes, or respirating pores, which must not become clogged and must be given a chance to breathe. It is difficult to make a young boy understand that "cleanliness is next to godliness," for too often he desires to be neither clean or godly. The appeal of a strong, healthy, athletic body grips him quicker than the appeal of moral well being. The value of bathing should be explained to him in such a tactful manner as to create within him a "hankering" for a bath. To bathe daily with warm water to keep clean, and to follow with a quick cold bath and then a vigorous rub-down will not only increase vitality but do much to keep clean his thought life. "Cold bathing sends the blood inward partly by the cold which contracts the capillaries of the skin and tissue immediately underlying it, and partly by the pressure of the water over all the dermal surface, quickens the activity of kidneys, lungs, and digestive apparatus, and the reactive glow